Lord Hylton: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	When they last had discussions with the government of the United States about the content of an arms trade treaty.

Lord Sainsbury of Turville: We envisage that the main bulk of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease claims will be settled by 2009. However, the department remains unable to set firm end dates for the COPD scheme due to the number of current unknowns and uncertainties surrounding the scheme. These are being considered in court.
	The estimated total costs to be incurred, as categorised above, are:
	(a) £590 million 1 for administrative costs, including claims handling and consultancy,
	£357 million for medical costs and £50 million for records management;
	(b) £1196 million;
	(c) £44 million;
	(d) around £12 million; and
	(e) £2,451 million.
	1 Claim handling, records management and defendants' legal costs cannot be broken down. These figures represent the total estimate for both schemes.

Lord Lester of Herne Hill: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	Whether they will give effect to the Power commission's recommendation that a concordat should be drawn up between the executive and Parliament indicating where key powers lie, providing significant powers of scrutiny and initiation for Parliament.

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: It is a longstanding principle that, where it is cost effective to do so, recovery is sought of all overpayments.
	The Department for Work and Pensions seeks to recover social security overpayments where customers innocently or otherwise, provide incorrect information in relation to their claim or fail to notify a change of circumstances. In addition, the department seeks to recover overpayments that are not recoverable under social security legislation—for example, paid twice for the same period. This is on the basis that customers have no right to retain money that they should not have received. The department's policy is to seek recovery in the cases where it is reasonable to expect the customer to have been aware of the overpayment.
	Rates of recovery are set to avoid undue hardship and take account of the financial and personal circumstances of the customer. In exceptional circumstances the Secretary of State can exercise his discretion to waive recovery of an overpayment to avoid severe hardship or where the recovery would be against the public interest.
	With regard to housing and council tax benefits, the local authority must decide whether an overpayment is legally recoverable and, if it is, whether it should actually recover it. This decision, as well as the method and rate of recovery, is the responsibility of the local authority. The authority must have regard to the customer's financial circumstances and avoid causing hardship to either customers or any of their dependants.
	The policy of HM Revenue and Customs on recovery of tax credit overpayments is set out in its Code of Practice 26, What happens if we have paid you too much tax credit? The criteria used to determine whether overpayments of tax credits should be remitted are contained in Code of Practice 26.